When the treadmill won't connect

Almost every Bluetooth problem with these pads is one of six things. Each one looks different, and telling them apart is most of the fix.

Nothing shows up in the device list

That list is drawn by your browser, not by this page, and it only shows what's switched on and nearby right now. An empty list usually means one of these:

• The treadmill has gone to sleep. Most pads stop announcing themselves after a few minutes of sitting idle. Wake it up at the panel and try again straight away.
• Something else is already connected to it. These treadmills only talk to one device at a time, so if the phone app is still open in the background, or a paired dongle is active, your pad is already taken. Close the phone app properly — leaving it in the background isn't the same as closing it.
• It's showing up under a name you wouldn't recognise. The list is filtered to names we know. Show all devices removes that filter and shows everything nearby, which is how oddly-named pads get found.

On a Mac, an empty list often means a permission

Chrome needs your permission to use Bluetooth, under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Bluetooth. Without it the list opens, finds nothing, and shows no error at all — which looks exactly like a treadmill that's switched off. Turn it on, restart Chrome, and try again.

There's no Connect button, or pressing it does nothing

Then your browser can't connect to Bluetooth devices. Firefox and Safari can't — and on an iPhone or iPad, every browser is Safari underneath, so installing Chrome there doesn't help. Chrome, Edge, Opera and Samsung Internet can, on a computer or on Android.

There's no workaround for the iPhone. Use a computer or an Android device instead — see the full browser list.

One more thing: the page has to be loaded over a secure connection. That means an address starting https://, so beltcontrol.com is fine. Opening a downloaded copy of the page from your own hard drive isn't.

It connects, then drops out after a couple of seconds

That's certain KingSmith pads — the KS-C2 and its relatives — behaving exactly as designed. They hang up on anything that connects and then just listens, within about three seconds. It isn't a fault, and it isn't a range problem.

Belt Control knows the greeting those pads expect, so it shouldn't happen here. If you're seeing it with some other tool, that's why.

It connects, but the belt won't start

Common on the KS-C2, and the pad does tell us why. Three things to check, in order:

• The child lock is on. The pad reports this, and when it does, the app says so instead of giving you generic advice. Turn it off at the panel.
• The treadmill's own panel still has control. After a stop, control goes back to the pad itself, and in that state it accepts a start command and then ignores it — the belt just doesn't move. The app takes control back on every start for exactly this reason.
• The pad just refuses, for no visible reason. On a real KS-C2 a start is sometimes turned down twice and accepted on the third try, with nothing different about the third. The app retries a refused start up to three times — only while it's still saying "starting", and never once you've pressed stop or disconnected. A belt that lurches into motion long after the app gave up, when you've already stepped off, is exactly what a retry must never become.

Also worth a glance at the treadmill's own display: an error code there is a hardware complaint, and no app can talk it out of one.

The numbers look wrong

Some of them are, and the app tries to be straight with you about which. Many newer pads don't count steps at all. Many older ones don't report calories. And where calories are a rough guess calculated from distance rather than a real measurement, the app marks them and keeps them out of your totals.

On the KS-C2 and its relatives, distance only updates every ten metres or so, so a short walk sits at zero for a while and then jumps. That's the treadmill's reporting pace, not a stalled connection.

Wherever a number is missing you'll see a dash. An app that invents a number to avoid an empty space is worse than one that admits it doesn't know.

It worked yesterday, and today my pad isn't offered

Your browser grants access to one device at a time, and only when you pick it from that list yourself — it won't hand it over any other way. Belt Control remembers your last treadmill and filters the list down to just that one, so reconnecting is a single click, but the list still has to open.

That's your browser's rule rather than ours, and it's a reasonable one for something that can start a motor.